Spartak Cake - Chocolate Honey Layer Cake

Spartak cake is a rich chocolate-honey layer cake beloved across Eastern Europe: thin cocoa-honey layers sandwiched with a silky chocolate custard buttercream. Overnight the layers soak up the cream and turn cloud-soft. An absolute showstopper!

Spartak Cake - Chocolate Honey Layer Cake

Thin chocolate-honey layers with a silky chocolate custard buttercream. This Eastern European classic gets better overnight, when the layers soak up the cream.

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Resting time 10 hours hrs

Total Time 12 hours hrs

Servings: 12 slices

Cuisine: Home cooking

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Layers

• 350-450 g flour
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 8 g baking soda
• 150 g sugar
• 50 g honey
• 90 ml water
• 1 egg
• 50 g butter or margarine

Chocolate custard buttercream

• 500 ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 200 g sugar
• 45 g cornstarch
• 45 g cocoa powder
• 200 g butter room temperature

Method

 

Cream

1. Heat the milk. In a bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar, cornstarch and cocoa, loosen with a splash of warm milk and stir.
2. Pour the mixture into the hot milk in a thin stream and cook, stirring constantly, until thick and just bubbling. Cool completely.
3. Whip the soft butter until fluffy, then add the cooled custard base a spoonful at a time, whipping until smooth.

Layers

1. Melt the sugar, honey, butter and water in a bain-marie until fully dissolved. Off the heat, quickly stir in the beaten egg.
2. Pour the mixture into a bowl with the sifted flour, cocoa and baking soda. Knead quickly into a soft dough - add flour sparingly, it should stay pliable.
3. Divide into 8-10 pieces, roll each thin and bake at 200 °C (390 °F) for 5-7 minutes. Cool the layers.

Assembly

1. Generously spread each layer with cream, pressing lightly. Rest a couple of hours at room temperature, then refrigerate overnight.
   
2. Coat the sides with crumbs made from trimmings and decorate as you like. Enjoy!

Notes

You'll get 8-10 thin layers; blitz one into crumbs for the sides.

Getting the chocolate custard cream right

• Whisk the eggs with sugar, starch and cocoa first, loosen with a little warm milk, then pour the mixture into the hot milk in a thin stream - this keeps it from curdling.
• Cool the custard base completely before combining it with the whipped butter, or the butter will melt and the cream will split.
• Use room-temperature butter and add the custard to it gradually, a spoonful at a time, whipping continuously.

Layer tips

• Work the dough quickly while it's still warm, and don't overdo the flour - the dough should stay soft and pliable.
• Roll each layer thin directly on parchment - transferring them whole is much easier.
• Bake one layer a little longer and blitz it into crumbs for coating the sides.

FAQ